Protection
by hermion8
Summary: Neji, Tenten and Lee got ambushed while returning home after a mission...NejiTen. First chapter can be read alone..
1. Protection

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… please review…this is my first fic, and it would mean a lot to have someone comment on it…thanks, Chixon! _

"It's a nice day, huh, Neji? I mean, no attacks on the way to Water Country and back home!" Tenten smiled. It was the first time that happened. There were usually many ninjas attacking them during their missions, trying to get Konoha nin.

Suddenly, kunais rained down on them. As they tried to escape, ninjas blocked their path. Tenten took out various weapons.

"It's an ambush!" Lee cried, as more ninjas surrounded them. He started with his Konoha Senpuu to clear the way. As the ninjas fell down, dead, other ninjas took their place.

"I believe we can handle them." Tenten called to Lee while throwing various weapons at the enemies.

Suddenly, a ninja grabbed her from behind, startling her. She tried to wiggle her way out of his hold, but it was no use. Neji and Lee were too busy fighting, and she could not disturb them by calling for help.

"Let go of me!" Tenten cried to her captor. The ninja tightened his grip. "I said, let go!"

Neji heard her. He tried to help her, but other ninjas closed in on him. "Hakkeshou Kaiten!"

Tenten realized Neji heard her voice from the far end of the battlefield. She tried to stop him, but she couldn't. The ninja holding her had his grip so tight she couldn't move, much more shout a warning.

"Tenten!" Lee cried, trying to get to her.

"Lee, cover me. I'LL help her." Neji told him quite calmly.

An enemy threw kunais to Neji, but he didn't care. All he cared for was Tenten.

Tenten looked into his eyes. Even though Neji spoke with tranquility, she saw in his eyes he was concerned about her. She knew that even if Neji hardly talked to anyone about his feelings, he cared.

"Neji, don't…" she choked out, before falling unconscious.

"Tenten!" Neji rushed to her captor. He struck a blow to the man's heart, instantly killing him.

Every ninja fighting stopped at once, seeing their leader die so quickly. They took the body and went back to their hideout.

"Neji, you didn't have to do that, you know. If Tenten was awake, she wouldn't have liked it." Lee told him, shaking his finger in front of Neji's face.

Neji grunted. He took Tenten's limp form and carried her the rest of the way.

"Neji…" Tenten mumbled, as he placed her gently onto a bed. Neji looked at her worriedly.

"You shouldn't try to get up, Tenten." He told her curtly. "You need rest."

"But Neji, I'm alright. See?" She tried to sit up, but failed. Her waist and arms hurt too much from the grip her opponent had.

"Tsunade-sama told me you can go home tomorrow. And no sneaking out." Neji smirked.

Everyone knew Tenten hated hospitals—because she thinks it is for the weak people who get hurt easily—,and that she sneaked out every time she got hospitalized.

"You won't know anyway." Tenten reasoned.

"Tsunade-sama also told me that I would have to watch over you." Neji said, face returning to its emotionless state.

"Fine." Tenten moped.

When Tenten woke up the next morning, she found Neji meditating. With his shirt off, she saw his chest bandaged up where the kunais hit them.

"Neji…I'm sorry…" Tenten had her head bowed in shame. Neji was rarely hurt in missions, and it was usually because of her. It was the tenth time it happened, but Tenten still wasn't used to Neji getting hurt because of her.

"Hn." Neji responded. He sat down in front of Tenten, who became silent.

Tenten was hurt, really hurt. Didn't Neji realize it was hard to swallow her pride and apologize? She put that thought aside and focused on a more important question. Didn't Neji even know it pained her terribly to see him get hurt? She thought that with his Byakugan he would notice it but…

"Tenten." Neji looked at her in the eyes. "Don't blame yourself. I was careless."

Tenten could only stare in shock. Neji? THE Hyuuga Neji, say he was careless? Well, he wasn't really careless, he just became distracted. By her. Again. After all, being the only girl in the team, Neji and Lee found the need to protect her, Neji especially, since they were training partners.

"Neji, it wasn't your carelessness, it was mine. If I wasn't careless we wouldn't have been harmed by the enemy." She reasoned.

"Tenten." He was growing impatient.

"It was MY fault, Neji. If I was more careful…" she cried. "But you shouldn't have protected me. Why did you even do that!"

"Because…I love you, Tenten." Neji told her quietly. "I always did. I just never told anyone…"

Outside, Lee stood, watching his two teammates.

"I have to tell Gai-sensei!" He cried, then rushed out to meet his sensei.

"WHAT!" Gai was shocked at what Lee reported. He immediately went to where Neji and Tenten were. "My youthful students! Such great joy it is for me to find out you aren't wasting your youth!"

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Tenten woke up from her dream…okay…so it wasn't that good a dream…it was a good one until Gai came…

She looked around. It was still dawn, and she was still at their client's home. That was a nice dream, she thought, before falling asleep again, smiling.

_Please review! I know it isn't nice, but it's the best I can make it since it's my first fic…sorry…ü_


	2. Love

**disclaimer: i do not own Naruto...**

_this story is supposed to be a one-shot, butthe endingwas kind of a let-down, so...here you go!ü_

The team left that morning; their work was done. The client invited them to stay for lunch, but since it was a long way from Water Country to Konoha, they just left. Plus, they were to cross some mountains and it wasn't a walk on a park…

Neji, being the observant guy he is, noticed Tenten being a lot happier than usual. He shrugged it off as nothing, plus, why would HE care?

A voice on the back of his head replied—much to his surprise. **_'Maybe you care because you really like her.'_**

_I so do not._

'**_Yes you do…you always blush when she's near you or holding you… whether it's when she's bandaging you or when she's faking to be your girlfriend to ward off your fan girls…'_**

"Neji? Why are you blushing?" Tenten asked, her hand on his forehead. "You're not sick, are you? Hmm…you don't seem to have a fever…"

"I'm not…"Neji replied, face turning back to its usual emotionless state.

Lee came over to the two, and asked Tenten to go ahead while they talked.

"Neji…are you…in love…with Tenten?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear. When Neji glared at him he just flashed Neji his good-guy grin. "My rival has finally fallen in love!"

That statement caused Tenten to look at Neji, which, at the moment, wasn't a good idea…

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Tenten yelled, being too surprised to remember she could fire chakra strings from her hand.

In a flash, Neji dived after her and saved her.

"Uh…Thanks, Neji…" Tenten said, blushing.

"Hn…" Neji turned his back and returned to the trail. "We still have a lot of ground to cover. Let's hurry…"

Tenten smiled, remembering her dream. _Hmm…this is almost like my dream…except I fell, courtesy of Lee, instead of us getting ambushed…I just hope I'll get almost the same ending…_

Lee looked at Tenten, wanting to ask if she was okay. Instead, he saw her blushing while staring dreamily into space. "Tenten-chan? Are you okay?" when Tenten didn't reply, he poked Neji pretty hard in the back. Neji glared at Lee.

"Neji-san…Tenten-chan is extremely distracted today...look…"

Neji looked at Tenten. She DID seem a little too distracted lately… "Tenten!"

Tenten looked alarmed. She thought they were getting ambushed. "Huh? Oh! Sorry…" she smiled at Neji guiltily.

"Focus! We're still on a mission!" Neji looked at her, frowning.

"Sorry! I was distracted…"

"By what? There's nothing nice here to distract you…" Neji raised his eyebrow.

"Uhm…" by now, Tenten had turned bright, bright red.

The rest of the journey was made in silence. A few hours later, they arrived in Konoha. Neji, being the leader of the team, went to Tsunade to report…but that is before he talked with Tenten…

"Tenten…why were you distracted? You're a shinobi…you KNOW you can't be distracted by anything…" Neji scolded her, looking at her sternly. "It wasn't like you to forget that…"

Tenten bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Neji…I guess…I was just distracted by the dream I had…" she flushed. _Did I really say that out loud?_

Neji raised his eyebrow. _A dream huh?_ "I thought you weren't that kind of girl…" but even though he said that, he was really REALLY curious as to what would distract Tenten, being the tough girl she is…

"I'm really sorry..."

"Care to tell me what you dreamt of?" okay, so Neji wasn't really inquisitive, but he really wanted to know if it had been about a person…if Tenten had a liking for someone…and…he was gonna pound the guy to his death…pretty dense huh?

"Well…it was…um…a-about me…a-and…" Tenten stammered, blushing tomato red.

"And?" Neji pressed, deathly aura surrounding him. Oh, was he gonna kill the guy…

"Um…"

"If you're not telling, I'm going to use my Byakugan to find out…" Neji threatened.

Tenten's eyes grew very big. "And…y-you…" with that, Tenten started to run…

Neji felt stupid. She had a big crush on him? And he never found out…_darn…I'm so stupid…I have Byakugan but I didn't notice…and everyone thought I was a genius..._

"Tenten! Wait!" Neji called out, trying to catch her. After a few seconds, Neji caught up to her. He grabbed her by the arm as she tried to go away.

"Let go of me, Neji." She said, trying to pry his grip off her. "Why did you follow me here anyway?" she demanded, looking at him coldly.

Neji was taken aback, Tenten never spoke to anyone coldly, and never spoke such unfeeling words.

"Tenten…" he said quietly, looking at her seriously.

Tenten ignored him, and started to weep. She stopped struggling and fell on her knees. Neji released his hold and hugged her instead.

"Tenten…please listen to me…" he said, looking at her in the eye. She wiped her eyes but continued to look at the ground. "Tenten…look at me…I love you, but I don't want you to get hurt…"

"How can I get hurt? I'm used to being hurt…I mean, we get hurt in missions…" she replied, finally looking at him.

"Tenten…when other shinobi want to take revenge on me find out, they'll hurt you…or…kill you…" he said, his voice cracking.

"I don't care…I'm a shinobi, I can take care of myself…" she said, determined.

"They aren't the only problem, Tenten…the Hyuuga family might object to this…and they might arrange me to wed a girl with prestigious background…"

"I don't care…we'll face those obstacles together…" she replied, smiling warmly. She stood up and pulled Neji with her. She laced her fingers with Neji, and they ambled to Tsunade's office together.

The next day, rumors were buzzing around about the new couple, and they reached the Hyuugas. Contrary to what Neji believed, Hiashi didn't object to their relationship, and even lectured the ones who objected…

Many months came by, and the two were firm. Nothing could take them apart, not even Neji's enemies. 2 years passed, now, they were 25, both special Jounins.

Today, they sat under the tree they rested under ever since their Genin days, taking a picnic. Neji stood up and took something out of his pocket.

"Tenten, will you marry me?"

A year and a half passed, and they were now proud parents of a cute little girl. She had Byakugan eyes, but they had the caring look in them like Tenten's. Hinata was now the head of the Hyuuga family, and had eradicated the division of Main and Branch family.

_please review! thanks for reading!_


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